I would think Brazil and the others that qualify for the Olympic finals would use this tournament as preparation for their provisional U-23 squads.
Almost forgot: according to the same article, Mexico is seeded, so now we're pretty much guaranteed to have the US, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil in Pot 1 for the draw. IMO you put the remaining CONMEBOL teams in Pots 2 (Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador) and 3 (Paraguay, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia) and the CONCACAF qualifiers in Pot 4.
The seeds for the Copa América 2016 should be: USA (only for being the homeowner) Brazil (for being Brazil) Uruguay (for its present and its history) Argentina (for being the most big marketing superpower in whole de soccer world) PS: Argentina deserves the award just a little more than Mexico.
The last time Argentina won a match against an European Superpower was in 1986 WC, more than 28 years ago. (Goes to 31, as long as they can try in the 2017 Confederations Cup) ... And before 1986 the Argentines only had defeated France (in 1930 and at home in 1978), Spain (in 1966) and the Netherlands in extra-time (at home in 1978). I repeat: Argentina drags over 30 years without being able to win a game to England, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, etc etc .................. ........ ...... (Honestly, I think it is very long time to be considered a Superpower like Brazil) (As if this were not enough) ...and have over 20 years without winning anything. Argentina last won title was the Copa America 1993. Since that time, or more precisely from 1994 to today, Brazil has become 2 times world champion, 4 times American champion and 4 times champion of the Confederations Cup, while Uruguay was 2 times champion of America. However, all that Argentina has to "brag" from 1993, according to their supporters and other fans who consider themselves to be "impartial", are 4 lost finals, 3 of them in a row against Brazil in the Copa America 2004, Confederations Cup 2005 and the Copa America 2007. Meanwhile, Uruguay addition to being 2 times American champion in 1995 and 2011, also lost a continental final against Brazil in 1999, and a WC semifinal against the Netherlands in 2010 and another semifinal of the Confederations Cup with Brazil in 2013. Ultimately, and appealing to the more rational objectivity that someone is able to consider, I ask myself: Who then is closer to the performance of Argentina in the last 20 years? Brazil or Uruguay?
Maybe it's a bit jingoistic and egotistically American on my part, but my guess would be that some of the star players from South America would be eager to ply their craft in the US in a competitive tournament. Guys like Messi, Neymar, James, Vidal, Suarez, those are guys that truly have a personal "brand" and these guys don't live in a bubble. They know the US is the largest/wealthiest virtually untapped market and it's not every day that they will have the opportunity to play on US soil in front of millions of American eyeballs and sell some of their own jerseys. As far as the Olympics, I can certainly see Brazil taking it seriously on home soil, especially when the lack of a gold medal has been sort of an albatross for CBF and the youth development in Brazil is and will continue to be under the microscope to look for signs of improvement following Mineirazo. I doubt any of the other teams that qualify will be prioritizing it as much as CC (2 from CONCACAF, 1 from CONMEBOL and 1 play-off winner).
When it comes to Countries focusing on the World Cup and individuals focusing on their brand... ... Country needs over Individual selfishness usually wins the battle. Qualifying is primary focus not some money grab Copa America.
By any measure, any FIFA tournament can be described as a money grab. To think WCQ's are the primary measurement of success for an international footballer is simply not the case. Countries like Brazil and Argentina are expected to qualify for the World Cup. Messi wouldn't really grow his greatness to any degree if he scored 40 goals in the next CONMEBOL campaign. It's all about the silverware.
South Americans will take it seriously. This is the first time the Olympics will be held in South America. Heck , it may be the only time.
No one is saying WCQ is the primary measurement of success. I am saying it will be the focus that summer for Federations, Managers and yes, players too.
When Colombia won the Copa America in 2001 but did not qualify for World Cup 2002 people were not like yes we got silverware! We don't care about the World Cup! On the contrary, most Colombians and Colombian fans I know would have rather have lost the Copa America and qualified to the World Cup.
All this talk about "brand" and reaching out to "markets" is far more important to American athletes and audiences. If the stars do end up coming, they'll do it out of pressure from their federations or something else. Fortunately, most South American stars only worry about their public image, not so much their brand.
Speaking of which...deep down in his heart of Argentine hearts, Messi knows he needs to win something with the albiceleste for his legacy's sake. If Argentina don't get the job done next year, I wouldn't be surprised to see him show up (he's already got Olympic gold - a senior team trophy is what's missing).
This does make sense. CONCACAF would have looked stupid if their champions didn't go to this tournament. Although it's unlikely that any nation other than the US, Mexico or Costa Rica will win the Gold Cup.
That stuff is important to sponsors. I wouldn't be surprised if Messi is asked by his sponsors to play in this Copa. Neymar too. And Nike might put pressure on the Brazilian confederation to bring a strong team.
But Nike would never pressure a team into making personnel decisions on their terms **coughFrance98cough**.
Ugh. You're right. The optimistic part of me thinks Messi and other international soccer stars are, in general, less beholden to the wishes of their sponsors in comparison to their American counterparts because they care a bit less about being obscenely rich.
In all honesty, I doubt any of South America's heavy hitters will play this tournament, they just got off from playing 2014 WC this last summer, they will all play Copa America in Chile in 2015 Summer, If the WCQ schedule remains the same they will start on October 2015. There is no way the clubs will allow players such as Messi, Di Maria, Neymar, James, Falcao, Cavani, Suarez, Sanchez, Vidal, Cuadrado, etc etc and risk them of muscular fatigue, after all Summer is meant to be their vacation time, besides It's not even an official tournament the Copa Centenario. It will however give coaches a great opportunity in trying new players from local tournaments.
It is as far as FIFA's concerned. Now, whether the federations decide to placate the clubs by not calling up star players for three tournaments in a row is up in the air.
Suarez won't. Chile will have all their best players, but I wouldn't be surprised if Messi and a few other top players skip the 2015 Copa.
Six more teams are out of 2016 Copa after being knocked out of Caribbean Cup 2014 contention. That competition line-up is now known: group A (Cuba, Trinidad Tobago, French Guiana, Curacao) group B (Jamaica, Martinique, Haiti, Antigua). Cup will be played in Montego Bay, Jamaica, in November and winner will qualify to 2016 Copa. Qualified to 2016 Copa 10 CONMEBOL teams USA Mexico Costa Rica (2014 UNCAF winner) Knocked-out of 2016 Copa US Virgin Islands Turks and Caicos Islands British Virgin Islands Montserrat Aruba Bonaire Suriname Puerto Rico Grenada Anguilla Guyana Dominica Belize Nicaragua Dominican Republic Saint Lucia Saint Kitts and Nevis Barbados Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Didn't take part in qualifiers Bahamas Bermuda Cayman Islands Saint Martin Sint Maarten
Don't matter because it is a FIFA tournament. Like another poster mentioned, I would not at all be surprised to see a lot more of the headline players missing from the 2015 edition. Also, the "muscular fatigue" in THIS type of scenario over the course of on year, or the cumulative effect of several years, is not actually a real physiological condition. Muscular fatigue can occur because of overexertion during a shorter amount of time (like a week or a few weeks or even several hours if the body is not properly conditioned). Playing and training 48 weeks a year instead of 45 weeks a year absolutely does NOT cause an increase in injuries. The human body has only made very very subtle physical changes over the course of the last 10,000 years. The concepts of "vacation" and even "retirement" are really only about a century old or so. The adult human body is actually very capable of doing physical work 6 days a week, 52 weeks a year and the vast majority of people have done so regularly in the course of human history. Psychologically, in modern society, it is certainly a different story. The only validity of an increase in injuries would be the fact that obviously any player is slightly more likely to get injured if he is playing 58 games a year as opposed to 52 simply because there are more minutes played, and theoretically more opportunities where one could get injured. Now, if you want to make an argument that there is a psychological fatigue, that's where you may have a more valid point (i.e. Landon Donovan). As for potential remaining qualifiers, we're down to 13 teams left for the remaining 3 spots. Guadeloupe is eliminated as well. So just 2 of the remaining Caribbean teams are non-FIFA members. I think their eligibility for the tournament is still up in the air. French Guinea, to their credit, have gone through all 3 rounds of CC qualifying and have a winnable match against Curacao in group, but it's still very unlikely that they would win this tournament or qualify via the GC route. Martinique has at least a punchers chance at either. However, I highly doubt either confederation wants to see Martinique play in this tournament. You can even throw out the fact that they will be obvious minnows in any group in the 2016 Copa, which really doesn't matter because any CFU team will be huge underdogs in any group anyway. I don't think CONCACAF wants to see a non-member play that can't play in WCQ or draw any substantial interest from American audiences since there is not a significant population of Martinique or French OD natives in the US. They want a Haiti, Jamaica or T&T, and most of all they would LOVE Cuba. Therefore, I expect them to make up the rules as they go along.